


Another Year Gone

by YumeArashi



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-26 10:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/649818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YumeArashi/pseuds/YumeArashi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorenzo and Giovanni, a birthday, and a quiet evening spent sharing a bottle of wine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Year Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Set pre-Assassin's Creed II.

Lorenzo flipped through the bank’s records of employment idly, uninterested until he caught a familiar name.  He perused Giovanni’s file with shameless curiosity, wondering if there was anything in it that he didn’t already know.  One fact caused his eyebrow to lift, and he set the records aside to consider his plans.

*****

 A few weeks later, Giovanni returned from his mission to Forlì - successful, as usual.

“Will there be anything else, Altezza?” Giovanni murmured after giving his report. 

“Come, sit and have a glass of wine with me before you go,” Lorenzo invited, taking a bottle and two cups from the sideboard.

Giovanni looked surprised, and then a little hesitant, but he sat across from Lorenzo’s desk as he was bidden.  “That is very gracious of you, Altezza.  If it is not impertinent to ask, what occasioned the offer?”

“Really, Giovanni, did you think I would not know such a simple thing about my assassin as his birthday?”

Whatever Giovanni had been expecting, it clearly wasn’t that.  This time, his surprise was mixed with faint embarrassment.  “You are too kind, Altezza, there’s really no need.”

Lorenzo watched him pensively.  “If you are anxious to get home and celebrate with your family, I will not keep you.”

“Ah, it’s nothing like that,” Giovanni took a sip of the wine.  It had to be one of Lorenzo’s finest vintages, rich and heady.  “We celebrate the boys’ birthdays now that they’re old enough to understand such things, but we really don’t make a fuss over our own anymore.  I hope that I do not seem ungrateful - your generosity merely took me by surprise.”

“Have I ever been anything but generous with you, Giovanni?” Lorenzo’s tone held the gentlest note of reproach.

“No, of course not, it’s just….you have not seemed inclined to such sociability before.”  Giovanni took another sip of his wine, hoping that he wasn’t making things worse.

Lorenzo didn’t seem upset, his expression one of slightly rueful amusement.  “I suppose it must seem so.  I have little time for such things.  But even I can take an evening in the company of a trusted ally.”

Lorenzo’s tone was matter-of-fact, but Giovanni knew that the careless words were something to treasure.  Il Magnifico never spoke praise idly, he trusted next to no one, and the gift of his time was more precious than even the expensive wine.

“I am grateful that you would make time for me,” the assassin said honestly.

“No need to be so formal,” Lorenzo waved a hand, taking a sip from his own glass.  “Tonight we are not ruler and assassin, but merely two old friends.”

Giovanni gave him a crooked little smile.  “Even so, you are very different from my other friends.”

“I can only imagine.”  Lorenzo never smiled unless he was using diplomacy to get his way, but Giovanni had long since learned the little crinkle at the corner of the grey eyes that signified good humor.

There was a moment of companionable silence, then Lorenzo asked curiously, “What were you like when you were a child?  You knew me from a tender age, but I never got to see those years in you.”

Giovanni grinned. “I was an absolute terror.  Every bit as much trouble as the boys are and then some.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Lorenzo said in the driest tone possible.

Giovanni laughed, and it felt like he was laughing for both of them.  “My mother, bless her, says that the boys are divine retribution for the grief that I always gave her.”

“I suspect all mothers must feel that way at times.  Your Maria likely wishes the same fate on your sons now and again.”

“Probably even as we speak,” Giovanni agreed.  “It’s one of her favorite threats when they misbehave, in fact - ‘one day you’ll have children who act just the same way that you act, so remember that!’”

“I can just picture that,” Lorenzo mused.  “She is a good woman - a fine wife and mother, I’m sure.”

“I was fortunate to have met her,” Giovanni agreed, “like many others in my life.  I am grateful that I have been able to surround myself with good people.”  He raised his glass.  “To friendship.  May it never fail us.”

“And to your birthday,” Lorenzo toasted him in return.  “May you celebrate it for long years yet to come.”


End file.
